The present invention relates generally to a carbonated beverage system for mixing carbonated beverages at the time of service (post mix), and more particularly concerns a syrup delivery system for delivering the beverage syrup to a carbonated beverage mixer where the syrup is mixed with carbonated water.
In the fountain, restaurant, and fast food industry, where high volumes of carbonated beverages are served to customers, it is customary to carbonate water with a source of CO.sub.2 gas and then mix the carbonated water and beverage syrup at a beverage mixer or mixing valve just prior to delivery to the customer. In one common post mix carbonated beverage system, the syrup is delivered to the fast food outlet in syrup containers comprising five gallon steel drums. The syrup is drawn from the steel drum by pressurizing the drum with a pressurizing gas and thereby forcing the syrup out of the drum through a drop tube in the drum. In restaurants that dispense very high volumes of carbonated beverages, the syrup may be delivered in bulk to the restaurant and stored in large (75 gallon) permanently installed syrup drums. In the case of the permanently installed syrup drums, the syrup is delivered from the syrup drum to the beverage mixer by pressurizing the large drum to force the syrup out through a drop tube just like the smaller five gallon syrup drums. In both cases it is necessary to clean and sanitize the syrup drums after use and before refilling. In the case of the smaller five gallon drums, the drums are returned to the syrup vendor who cleans, sanitizes, and refills the drums before redelivery. In the case of the large permanently installed syrup drums, it is necessary to have a permanently installed, on-premise cleaning and sanitizing system for the syrup drums. In addition it is necessary to have at least two large syrup drums so that while one is being cleaned, the other can provide syrup for the continuing operation of the beverage mixer. Typically, three drums are installed on-premise so that at any given time, one is in use, one is in reserve, and one is being cleaned or awaiting bulk syrup delivery. Similarly for the smaller five gallon drums, the syrup vendor must have a sufficient number of drums available to compensate for those that are being cleaned at any point in time.
In another syrup delivery system, the syrup is delivered to restaurants in a syrup container called a bag in a box. The bag in a box container consists of a plastic bag inside a cardboard box. The plastic bag has a connector which can be attached to the beverage mixer for delivery of the syrup from the plastic bag to the beverage mixer. The bag in a box system requires an auxiliary pump which creates a partial vacuum to suck the syrup out of the plastic bag. The requirement of an auxiliary pump introduces not only an additional capital cost to the system, but also an additional variable into the beverage mixing process. If the auxiliary pump does not deliver the syrup to the beverage mixer at the correct pressure, the resulting beverage will not be up to the desired quality standard. Even minor variations in the final beverage mix can produce significant variations in the taste of the resulting carbonated beverage. Moreover, the bag in a box container does not appear to be practically adaptable to a very high volume, on-premise bulk syrup storage and delivery system.
In addition to post mix carbonated beverage systems, there is also the need in bars and restaurants to deliver beverages such as wines from a bulk storage container to a dispenser and then by the glass to a customer. If wine, for example, is delivered to a restaurant in a drum, the drum cannot be pressurized with CO.sub.2 gas because such a procedure would carbonate the wine. An auxiliary suction pump will empty the wine from the drum, but that requires additional equipment with the attendant problems. Moreover, in order to reuse a bulk storage container for a beverage such as wine it would be necessary to clean and sanitize such container before reuse.